more or less me

I keep struggling with less is more. I put on more paint than I need to. Kind of like makeup. Makeup is because you think your cheeks need to be redder, your lashes longer, your face stronger. You are not enough as you are. I dont wear makeup on my face anymore but I still struggle with not blobbing it on my paintings.
akkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!
More ... or less... as progresses....
xo

A Serious Topic in the Midst of Holiday Merriment

Some quotes and thoughts on the topic of "pain":

• The state of pain is the best location in which to discover your true self. It is the best place to discover what things don't really matter to you, what things matter most, and what things have been getting in the way.
• Pain is the most valuable tool for getting the truth from yourself.
• Pain renders the fat from the beef. Pain is an integral part of pruning. It helps us let go of the unnecessary & the excessive.
• Pain anesthetizes the unnecessary so that surgery may be performed within the core of our beings.
• A scar is the sign that there has been pain, healing, and a new life.
  
• Only scarred lives can nourish others. Only scarred lives can save.
• Only a scarred life can wait patiently holding the hand of another one in pain.

My wish for my loved ones: if we do find ourselves in pain may we be thankful for this opportunity to find the wealth that lies within. And may we all find nearby the hand of a scarred friend.

Craig Hawkins Interview

Cool! Check out the interview of one of Harry's old students, Craig Hawkins on MyArtSpace:
http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2008/12/art-space-talk-craig-hawkins.html

Paint and Painting and the Difference

The more I paint, the more I love the paint.

Here is my desk - you can see I am studying Cy Twombly. How does he get away with all that scribble scrabble?!!

Sometimes I stop and look at what I have painted and am bummed cause I had much more fun painting than success with what it looks like. Maybe that is why some painters seem to refuse to say they are going to paint in the studio. Instead they say they are going to work in the studio. That way they aren't disappointed when their product does not turn out as delightful as the activity.

Does anyone else wonder about this? [clik on Post Title to leave comment or email me your comment and I'll post it for you: s@suzanneally.com]

So here is how it's been going the past few days:
Click
to
enlarge
images!

Where the Bees Bizzy & the Brids Fleogan!

Don't you hate it when blog authors apologize for not writing regularly? Me too!

So Hi there! What in the world have I been doing? Some of you have been so caring to ask. Bizzy bizzy bizzy bee! I have been moving honey from hive to hive trying to find the sweetest selling spots! That is, I have been moving Harry's paintings into some new galleries. The Craighead-Green in Dallas and the Soren Christensen in New Orleans.

I have even been working on some paintings myself. None finished yet but here are a few studio shots:
As you can see the brids just don't want to fleogan out of my paintings so I agreed they could stay as long as they didn't leave too many droppings. Truth is, the white gloop leaves a lot of white droppings itself, so it's hard to tell the difference between brid poop and gloop poop.

Anyway bear with me as I get warmed up. I have to get cozy in my blogging nest before I can really tell you what is on my mind. You ought to know that by now.

While I was in Dallas at the Craighead-Green Gallery I got a rare opportunity. The gallery agreed to look at my work with the possibility of rep. As I brought my paintings in and lined up in the presence of the other works there I instantly knew what my paintings lacked. Helen and Scott gave invaluable input as well. I think the bottom line is I need to unearth my true self more, quit whispering and be brave to say [paint] what I mean.

Please do click on the images to see a much larger image & take a better look. I have the older fleogan painting with the blue background and two red birds hanging on the wall behind the two paintings in the photo here. I like the new ones better because the brids have more gesture, more life. The new ones shed light on the stiffness of the older one. I have always been fascinated by gesture work & the delicate balance between slopping paint around and capturing the essence of a spirit. I don't care so much about painting the exterior skin or feathers of something as much as painting the core of the being, so that's what I'm after. Please let me know if you see it, I'm rather insecure about whether I'm communicating as you also know.

The paintings with all the white are at beginning phases. The ones with brighter color are about mid phase, and then finally the brash color gets softened again with translucent white and nurturing touch. etc.

I am pushing myself to do larger pieces. The largest one so far is 40x40". These babies are so heavy with all the texture paint, I don't think I can lift anything bigger which is a bummer. And I do need to lift these around quite a bit as I paint. Sometimes working flat on a table, and sometimes propping against a wall to check the long view. I love to work up close and tend to forget I need to make sure the far away view holds some sort of power to invite the peeps to come closer and indulge in intimacy.

The last photo shows some smaller landscapies. Some brids may visit them, or maybe even some roamers. We'll see who alights or roams by.

Finally I want to say something about the economy. Don't neglect the economy of your soul. You are capable of creating atmospheres by the thoughts you entertain in your mind and the beliefs you hold in your heart. When one economy fails, it gives opportunity for us to create a better economy. Let us rejoice at our new opportunity, not destroying anything maliciously, but allowing the useless to drop away and the truth to prevail.

Paintasophically Yours,
suzy

Fleogan of Brids

Where the Fleogan
24x24x1.5"
mm/panel

"Fleogan" means fly, or flee in middle English. I picked it of course because it is what the birds, or brids do.

xo

PS. Check out the new painting page: http://suzanneally.com/suzysv081101/suzanneally/index.html

Bantering Mian

Where the Rome #4
30x30"
mm/wood

I finished this painting yesterday and it is my favorite so far. The second photo is how it looked the day before. I wanted to show you how it progressed. I continued rubbing & buffing until the underneath seemed to trade places with the upper layers & it took out some of the pods or whatever that is roaming. You can see where they disappeared - there appears to have been a struggle of some sort. That rocks my boat for some reason. To me, this painting is painful in a bitter sweet painting kind of way. There are hurts and struggles, growths and setbacks, but the blush of nurture prevails and even sends out pods to roam.

Mi is flying in today and we are driving our paintings to a possibly interested gallery in Dallas. I have been thinking a lot about his paintings and found myself trying to think in Mian. In his paintings he seems to be using a half-paint/ half-word language. That kid has always amazed me since he sneaked a carton of eggs into the living room and leaving them all in the carton, poked each one with his finger until it broke. When asked why, he said he liked to "pock" eggs. He was always fascinated with the Humpty Dumpty egg breaking. He always liked seeds and pods, well I do too... things that carry the miracle of life inside a protective shell. When the shell begins to crack open, life happens.

So I realized I have been working on a series which I decided to call "Learning Mian". I guess now that I posted it, it is official or something. It's not like a neon sign appeared over my head in the studio announcing to the world that "Suzy Ally is officially working on the Learning Mian series". I tend to envision it happening that way for the "Big Guys" in artland.

Which reminds me, I wanted to tell you I think artists statements are usually a bunch of BS. Well OK not always, but when you are expected to explain your work as if you planned to do it that way all along, BS I say. Or if you say something like "Well I wanted to deal with negative space." BS. I HOPE it is BS anyway. You just wanted to play with paint and brush, I hope. The negative space thing happened as you painted. That is my snort for the day about that!

Anyway, the learning Mian thing. Mi did several paintings with titles like "Where the Bigheads Roam", "Where the Lunartiks Roam", etc. and I decided to dialogue with him or maybe banter using my own painting titles. Thus, "Where the Roam" is me trying to out Mian him. Let's see what he banters in reply. Or maybe he will ignore me and fleogan beyond. Kids usually do that.

xo

A New Batch has Hatched!!!

BOO! Happy Hallowiow!
Ron Hart introduced me to Simple Viewer and WIOW! it is great. I made a page of my latest paintings HERE!
Go check em out. I'm going to singers' practice. See you later, tater!
xo
suzy

Another successful Texture Workshop!

This morning I had a Texture Workshop for 5 fantastic ladies from the Country Workshop Artists. I always seem to learn something from my "students"! And I love the energy that happened as they took delight in smooshing the texture around and the surprises that happened.

I'll be doing another workshop in November for them and a second workshop also in November for anyone else interested. Email or call to get on the list. There are only five people per workshop.

I think I finished one today and a second one is close. Will post soon.
xo

Guerrilla Garage Art

Guerrilla Garage Art / Children's Art Gallery!

These are photos of the garage Smilin' Bill's grand- daughters painted. Man I love this! The scale is so grand and their brush strokes so free and full of heartfelt pure spirit! They haven't yet been taught to worry about the shoulds; kids just paint from their heart!

Lots of people have been telling me about these little pink notices they have been getting from our city telling them to paint their garage. When Smilin' got his little pink notice he painted it white [the garage, not the notice] and then asked his granddaughters to decorate it. He gave them a few cans of "$5. Whoops Paint" from Lowes, a few $1.00 paint brushes, a step ladder, and they did the rest. I think they have started a movement. I HOPE they have started a movement!!!

My son is a Guerrilla Urban Farmer. He plants seeds in vacant lots in areas that he walks by. What a way to proactively affect your daily environment. His walk to work is also his time to check on his planting projects. Not to mention he just improved the neighborhood!

Anyway, as a long-time lover of children's art I can't tell you how jazzed I am about Smilin's Guerrilla Garage Art Idea. You can never seem to find enough canvas for kids to paint, to really stretch their arms and paint from their guts. What better synergistic plan than to give them your pink-slipped garage?

I am tempted to start an official Guerilla Garage Art Blog. Help people in town who have gotten pink-slipped to connect with kids looking for a place to paint. Maybe people who have partly-used paint would donate to the movement. Maybe whole neighborhoods could have the backs of their garages Guerrilla Arted and a Drive thru Guerrilla Garage Alley Gallery Movement would take over Troy!

Hmmm... the old ticker is cranking away on this one. Click the Post Title where it says Guerrilla Garage Art and you will be able to comment. Let's see what happens next..........

Last Night'sTexture Workshop

Had my first Texture Workshop last night. I hope my peeps enjoyed it as much as I did. In photos are left to right, Jordan, & Alex, & Luke & Dana. They gave me some very good feedback to make the next one even better. The next workshop is Saturday morning.

I tried to keep a balance between showing them the new technique and then giving them the freedom to create their own paintings. We were all sort of amazed when we were done how each person's painting turned out so different. This texture stuff has endless possibilities. I can't wait to see all the different art created from these workshops. Hopefully everyone will post their new discoveries and ideas!

More of the Amazing Smilin' Bill!

This has nothing to do with painting. Or maybe it does but I will leave it to you to tell me. Smilin' Bill gave me more cookies today, only this time he used Raisinettes instead of chocolate chips. Ohmygoodness!
PS. Hurt my shoulder moving things around in my kitchen after the fridge broke. Had to rest up for a few days & finished up two delightful books... Marley and Me and A Girl Named Zippy. Highly recommend, especially for the dreary winter months when you need a light-hearted pick-up.

Same Olde Story in Periwinkles

The Same Old Story in Periwinkles
24 x 24 x 1.5
mixed media on wood panel

Enjoy. Talk later. Going to church now.
xo

It's the Same Old Story

It's the Same Old Story in Light Greens
22 x 22 x 1.5"
mixed media on wood panel
[click to see enlarged image]

My grandmother was the picture-taker in our family. We made fun of her incessantly. Surely there is not one of us that does not now feel guilty as we enjoy the plethora of family films she left behind. Nanny used to always spend so much time documenting our lives that we joked that she missed out living her own. When life dishes out goodie upon goodie, I am so busy living the goodies, I can't get time to blog about it. Thus you have as close to an excuse for not hearing from me as I hope I ever give you.

Harry went back to Ga after a blissful artful week. I did manage to film him a couple times with some of his juicy art talk before he demanded I turn off that stoopid camera. [pout] Yes, I will post the little gems in a bit.

Annette, Harry & I had a couple of super juicers. Just stellar material. I think Annette got jazzed and I know I did. I feel like I shed several pounds of shoulds during the process. Harry gave me his coveted "That's a good one, dear," on one of my paintings right before he left. Then after I coated it with glaze, the bright pink pastel chalk marks jumped too much up through the other layers of colors and ruined it. waaaaaaaaaa. I finished the above painting just this morning and like it even better than the "That's a good one, dear." Don't know what Harry would say but am learning to value what I SAY.

Never ceases to amaze me how hard it is to cut thru my own crap to what I really like. What I really want to paint. The biggest enemies are the thoughts, "Suzy, you have to make it interesting, What you have is not enough, Put on more to make people notice." The hardest thing is to just paint what I want to paint and not fear rejection.

There are some background meanings to the titles but maybe I will blog about those later. Just enjoy this one for now.

xo

The Cats Came Back or No Canaries on Stick

I am so very totally jazzed. Two things came together. maybe more than two things. I don't know. I just love this painting. Because.... I got the realish cats and the abstract texture together. I am waiting to see if it is done. Oh guess what I am calling it... "The Cats Came Back or No Canaries on Stick". Haha poor canaries. But isn't it fun? I know, I know, cool artists aren't supposed to act giddy. Well tough.
xo
me
PS. Don't forget to click image to enlarge & see all the scrumptious upclose goodness! Woohoo! I could eat this painting!

Knox St. in Highland Park, Dallas

My brother and I went trooping around our old stomping grounds while in Dallas. We had lunch at the Highland Park Pharmacy on Knox St. Grilled cheese sandwiches and cherry coke. The Pharmacy is about the only thing I can recognize on Knox St. anymore.

My grandmother founded, owned & operated the Highland Park Weave Shoppe on Knox Street and when I was a little redheaded girl she would take my hand and we would walk down the street to have lunch at the Pharmacy or at the Highland Park Cafeteria.

Funny how things come full circle. I was just on the phone to Helen of the Craighead-Green Gallery in Dallas. We are in mid-arrangements for Harry's paintings to be exhibited there. I was talking to her about one of Harry's paintings, Figure with Flowers #2. I told her the story about the nightgown in that painting - remember the blog post about the raggy nightgown that I had given Harry when he went back to GA in August?

Well a bit more to that story is that my grandmother also sold antique linens from her Weave Shoppe and she kept me supplied with linen nightgowns from her stash. Helen remembered the Highland Park Weave Shoppe. It was quite a landmark for years & probably larger now as a part of the old Knox St. Memories. Anyway if all works out well, how cool that the nightgown may travel via Harry's painting back to its Dallas roots.

As if this is not excitement enough, the Craighead-Green Gallery is also interested in Mikhail's paintings. I agreed to be Mik's liaison, too, so I need to get to work. Don't worry, I am painting, too, well... maybe tomorrow. It has to happen or I'll burst - I accumulated much emotional material in Dallas that MUST get into the paint!

xo til later
suzy

Gifts

What a gift of a week with my family in Texas. I got to do something I enjoy tremendously - cook, laugh, eat, everyone in the kitchen.

Visited our mother and grandmother's graves with my brother and cried together. Something very special about sharing sorrow with your brother.

My family is so fun, so high energy. I am so lucky. I miss them. I wish they lived in my town so I could see them more.

But oh wow do I love my town & my home and my friends here. I was taking the garbage out today and as I walked by Smilin Bill's house, he offered me some fresh baked cookies. What more can I possibly say about that?

xo

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

A photo of my lovey niece, Kimmie. I am here in Texas taking care of my sister after her operation. Which was thankfully very successful.
OOOPS gotta go the Queen is calling. She wants her lunch......
Yes mamm coming.............

THANK YOU!

What a fantastic turnout for our event this weekend! We made some great sales AND some GREAT new friends! We are SO JAZZED! THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support us. It meant so much to have you there. I am tickled to say we added some bloggees to our list. A lot of friends and artists were excited about the concept of networking, making use of the internet and THE EVENT! Lori's shop looked WONDERFUL and provided such a nice big friendly space for us to exhibit our work. Meggan and Annette sold almost all their art the first night! Thanks to Mike Cargill and Chuck Klein for their catering talents as well as their neverending support! Oh and Thanks to Smilin' Bill for the sales assistance! And a painting title idea, "Stick in the Mud."

It was such a success, we are considering doing it again around Thanksgiving. Now I definitely need a long nap. More soon!
xo
suzy

Reclining Stick

Let Your Neck be Free
or
Jade with Reclining Stick
12 x 12 x 1.5"
mixed media on wood

I really like this one. Lots to look at and touch. Some areas look like little pools of water and others like translucent porcelain. But it is the best translation in paint of what I feel when I am doing my Alexander lie downs.

Hope to see you tomorrow night at the opening! Lots of paintings under $100. Annette is looking for a blue light we can put up. [haha]

xo

OK OK OK!

OK OK OK here are all the new ones...
www.suzanneally.com

another appetizer

Carnelian Lithostone with Stick
12 x 12 x 1.5"
mixed media on wood

You have to touch these. No I mean you have to. They are touchable. I have glazed each one of them with polyacrylic so they are protected. In some places the glaze is really thick and you just HAVE to touch it to see what happens. In other places it is smooth and velvety. Other places it is translucent like fired white porcelain. I used to work with white porcelain pottery and sculpture. it was hard to keep pure because just a spec of iron oxide in the air would turn into a nasty red splotch on the surface of the pottery. Dawns on me as ironic that one of the things I am using to color this porcelain-seeming paint is dry iron oxide pigment. Funny how life goes full circle and the things we used to fight become friends.

Also used some carnelian beads and a dried day lily stem. Also the reference to lithostone. I loved lithography in art school. Then I realized I loved the stone itself. So stone age. Reminded me of the stone Moses brought down from the mountain. Full of a very important message of some sort. Stirred awe in the people. I don't think this will stir awe but I wonder what it does stir in you? Share?
Click on the title of this post & you will see where to post a comment.
Thanks and to sleep for me.....

appetizer

Oh sheesh it's already tomorrow. Been busy getting ready for upcoming show. OK I'll give you one little appetizer [get it, Taste of Troy... appetizer, heh, heh] This one is:

Amulet Page
8x8x1.5"
mixed media on wood

g'nite!

Two Whews

WHEW! How nervous! Just finished helping Harry with his application to the Guggenheim Fellowship Grant for 2008. Very exciting! Can you hear my knees knocking? It feels so good to seal the envelope & say ok that's all I can do. Zip 'er off in the mail tomorrow morning. Whew whew whew!

Tomorrow Annie & Meggan & I set up our show at Lori Middleton's Interiors in downtown Troy. If you are in Troy Fri 5 to 7pm or Saturday please stop by & give me a hug.

Been talking to my sister in Dallas all weekend getting news on the hurricane & making sure it is handling my other family members gently. It is. WHEW, minimal damage! Don't let anyone ever tell you prayer does not work! God is good!

Gnite for now!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Boy Legs and Other Mik Pods

Mi's Story 1991
mixed media on wood

The emotion paintings seem to be a bit more than just a fleeting emotion. They seem to be snapshots of a potent emotion from the past. Like a dream that floats up to remind me of something I need to resolve in real life, something I forgot or was trying to forget.

This is definitely something I want to always remember. Our son Mischa telling us his dreams. He has always been an avid dreamer and the report on the dreams at breakfast quite epic. I used to suspect he was making them up. A little boy of three telling me this huge long tale - there was no way he could have dreamt all that and remembered it in such detail. But after living with him for 19 years, now maybe I am convinced he really did dream all that.

Anyway this painting feels to me like one of those boy dreams. A toy boat transforming into a real warship on a red sea. Steam and fury. ANd what are the two stationary red and orange objects? I am sure will Misch will explain.

Another Feelie

E From V October '06
mixed media on wood

Another hatchling from feelie territory. Curious to know the feelings this one evokes in my bloggees??

xo

Diary Page July '06

Diary Page July '06
12 x 12 x 1.5"
mixed media on canvas & wood
[name changed to Rose Lithostone]

Click image to enlarge!

These little duckies are giving me a new blog issue to deal with. I work with several at a time bringing them up thru the process and they hatch each in their own time yet usually within a day or two of each other. So several days may go by as I bring a batch up thru the processes, then POOF! they are all hatching! I really don't want to sit here and upload all those photos - I'd be here all day! What to do?!

I will try to get the latest chickadees posted intermittently. This particular one has a very personal feeling. Maybe because of the delicate light warm pinks. And pink quartz crystals represent love, emotions, and the heart. The embedded thing on the top right is a little find I picked up off of Harry's studio floor. Our son Mikhail used to wander around our large woodsy yard and collect strange little rocks and organic growths, fascinating little pebbly knotty pods; now I remind myself of him as I go fossil hunting on Harry's studio floor.

As I turned the corner from my bright summer story paintings with Mister Black, into muted tones of fall, my paintings seem to be going inward where there is less narrative story and more abstract other-sensed story. I am reminded of Harry's conversation with Larry when Hare explained that the difference between realistic art and abstract art is like the difference between music with words and music without words. You can tune into the music via your ears and get a feeling from it. So with abstract art you can tune in with your eyes and pick up on the feeling.

Harry also says there is a language of art to be learned. Being a very emotional person, I sometimes find it hard to put my feelings into words. Sometimes when I am really in the alpha zone in the studio I feel I am able to express my feelings in this language of art. This is one of those paintings that really happened that way for me. Do you get it?

Dnagg it, my comment button is still broken. email your comments to me and I'll post them.
s@suzanneally.com
xo
s

Hatch Batch

Been busy in the painting hatchery. By the time I had a batch hatched and ready to photo - the sun was gone and too dark to photo today! So let's take a relax and watch a little video from my nay bore, Smilin' Bill and his Rum River Blend Band....
http://www.whiotv.com/video/17417660/index.html

Tablets of White Rock, Crystals and Words

Jade Tablet
5 x 6"
gemstones & mixed media on wood

Lapis Lazuli Tablet
5 x 6"
gemstones & mixed media on wood

Rose Quartz Tablet
4.5 x 6"
gemstones & mixed media on wood

3 Lazulis Tablet
7 x 6"
gemstones & mixed media on wood

Paint & texture & feelings & WORDS tumbling thru my head. Books-related words. Word-related words.  Chapter, papyrus, scroll, tablet, Moses, yeah, I said "Moses". Sallie always says "that'd kill Moses," when something is really remarkable. There is that word, "remarkable. I wonder if these are remarkable? I wonder if they'd kill Moses. Doubt that. 

They seem awfully remarkable to me right now but that is usually the case with me and paintings that have just hatched. A mother always loves her babies, at least until they begin to grow up and sass her. 

I will come back and talk about these later. I gotta take a nap.

xo

What's up in the Studio Now?

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO ENLARGE!
The hammering noises have stopped and now just tickled laffing. What's up? I got the first few coats of texture on a big batch of canvases and beginning to add little finds, dry pigment, wet pigment, photo transfers, and other little deliciouses that carry a beat and hint at rhythms of language. I am building up the thickness a lot more than I ever have before and really sinking the finds deep - some are like the tip of an iceberg - you just know something big is under there but you only see the innocent little top. Into several of them I have embedded smooth round crystal beads & I am really excited to see how they turn out. I bury them now and when it comes to buffing time will sort of mine them back up to the surface. This is too much like fun.

Canary Yellow with Stick

Canary Yellow with Stick

6 x 7"

mixed media on wood panel

Just posted the first hatchling from the new white rock basement experiments. Az usual I have to say that you have to see these in person, dang it.

Have eyehooks with wire to hang and more at bottom edge so the painting appears to float out from the wall. Cool.

Going to see if I can get any more to hatch today...

Buy.

Purple Cows

I am really excited about Ron Hart's post for Saturday Aug 30. He uses the word "remarkable" and he is talking about purple cows. Check it out. http://photobyhart.blogspot.com
BANG BANG BANG ... SPLOOCH!

Thank you, Annette

What interesting conversations today. A little train of email exchanges:

Annette wrote: OK, I am back on Dieb.......I was looking at the books I have and I started noticing that all his compositions or most of them are divided up horizontally into 3 or 4 areas primarily.......ask Harry about that......do you think we each have a composition we keep working in various ways...?????

I answered: I definitely think many artists have repeating themes and elements in their art. Harry and deKooning both have this particular brushstroke they repeat over and over. It reminds me of someone with an accent. Or a remarkable nose.

Harry: I certainly do, probably only because my intent is contemplation and symmetry stops movement and invites quietness. It also formalizes the informal.

Annette: ahhhh.....that tickles my art bones..................now if only I could figure out MY composition, brushstroke, big nose, etc......I need to get all my work together and look.....another good reason for an art sale!!!

Later tonight Annette generously listened and reflected on the paintings I am working on. The BANG BANG BANG ones. She helped me look at the difference between the two very different styles. Helped me see the elements in each one that I might combine into one style. The painted print patterns or biomorphic patterns of naturally settling and drying water mixtures. Bright paintbox colors or earth tones and natural crumbled dirt. Silhouettes or not. One is too much in your face, the other is not enough information. Somehow I just never thought of this before like she helped me see it. What a great gift understanding is. Thank you, Annette.

Good night everybody.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Who Stole my Story?

Somebody stole my comment button! Alas, I ambusy getting ready for Family Camp. [WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!] I will fix the Comment button when I return to real life on Tuesday Sep 2. Until then if you have a comment, make it sweet and email it to me. I'll post it somehow, dearies!
xo!

Playing in the Mud with Annie

Work In Progress
Time On Mars
18 x 18 x 2"
mixed media on wood box

What an awesome today today! Played in the white mud with Annie all afternoon. we scooped and blopped and blobbed, rubbed and buffed and stuck things in it.

I recently subscribed to a feed from the explorer on Mars. They have a widget you can get that tells you the time on Mars. While I was making this painting, I kept thinking about time on Mars and all that phrase might imply directly or tangentially. Like, if I were in a different place, would time be different? I know that if I were at a desk 9 to 5 time would probably go very slowly as opposed to the breeze of an afternoon playing in the mud with Annie.

If I were on Mars I would probably resort to marking each day with a thumb print on the wall like prisoners in solitary confinement where they don't know the time of day. I really don't know what this has to do with anything.

Yesterday I was running errands and as I came out of the Post Office looked around me and felt very alive. I felt like the world and my life lie ahead of me and anything is possible. I felt like just standing for a minute and watching the day happen. Then I focused on what my eyes were looking at and realized there was a kind of run down metal building across the street, a bit of trash floated across the pavement, and the sun was beating down hot. For me to feel alive and notice it, in this particular setting is a very amazing thing because all my life I have been sensitive to my surroundings and ones like this usually make me grab tensely inward trying to protect myself from possible harm or just unpleasantness.

I think this happened because of something I am achieving with my Alexander Teacher, Karen DeHart. We had a very good session yesterday. We talked about my art and my art business as we worked on letting go of tension. She helped me realize I have been concentrating and focusing on wanting to sell my art, rather than expressing it as a wish, letting it go, and waiting to see what happens. Believing it will come rather than grabbing for it to come. Afterward I felt as if a larger space was created around me and I felt free to live in it. I think that space has been there all the time, I am just now allowing myself to live and thrive in it. I think so many things I do are self-limiting. Amazing how responsible for myself I really am, yet how much I have to let go of trying to control everything around me.

So Time on Mars....

Better than Youth and New Metal?

Finally something to show, still a Work In Progress:
PO's Paris Trip
12 x 12 x 2
mixed media on canvas on board

And a Good morning to my dear friends and fans! Did you have good coffee this morning? I am trying Starbuck's Gazebo Blend. Good but not quite as good as last month's Hawaiian Kona or something like that. Now can't find it anywhere. Flowery tropical blues on the bag. darn. It was sublime.

Also been searching for a special marinade for the chicken at our church Family Camp which is coming up this weekend. Mr. Yoshida's Marinade and Cooking Sauce. Our chef Larry insists on it and I am on the Fam Camp gro-shopping committee.[One of my favorite committees I must say!] Finally tracked some down at Sam's Club in Mentor Ohio. Called them and they don't and won't ship it to us for any price. Anyone live near Mentor [north east of Cleveland, OH?] Wanna' earn some painting points?

Next topic: my dear friend Ron Hart the Photographer. Ron & his wife Debbie have been dear friends for years. Ron has always been around with his camera faithfully capturing special moments for lots of us all this time. But I think Ron has come into his own. He just put his site and blog up and WIOW! I felt like I was taking a trip to some beautiful new place when I went there. The ironic thing is, my favorite photos were of peeling paint and rusting doors. A reminder to me that nature eventually takes over, even man made steel. And that dying and change can be more beautiful than youth and new metal. Since he put the site up a couple days ago I have been to his site several times just to take a deep breath and remember Who is in charge here. I think the boathouse with the blue doors is my fav. What yummy texture and colors. What man begins, if he sits quietly and waits, nature will finish! And Ron will probably be there to document the miracle. Those are my thoughts about that anyway!
http://photobyhart.com and http://photobyhart.blogspot.com

I am going to make chikin salad for lunch. Annie is coming over to play in the white mud this afternoon. WOOHOO!
xo

FEEDBURNER ROX!

Oh I forgot to tell you about the typing typing typing part...
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xo
Miss TypeBang

White Rock

More banging. Then typing. More coffee. ThenPAINTING! Ahhhh, painting! Well, texture paint anyway.

What a transition time. The canvas boards and backing stretchers take some time to build because they will have to support more weight than the previous oil paintings. This is a clue as to things to come.
Maybe you can get more clues from these photos. I thought it only fair to give my dear loyal bloggees a look at what might be causing all that banging and squishing.

Talking to Annette yesterday about all sorts of things. Going back in time. I've done art in the past about going back in time. It helped to heal. But what is the use of continually reviewing the past if it does not give you wisdom for the present?

I have always been fascinated with my Grandmother's stories of her life in Texas. A lot of her stories took place around White Rock in Dallas. I am not sure of the facts exactly but I think that she struggled hard before White Rock and once she got there she felt she had reached a successful plateau. She continued to climb the rest of her life, as any good Capricorn does, but White Rock always remained a milestone.

Several years ago I began using Behr's Texture Paint from Home Depot. It has the combined best qualities of plaster of paris, acrylic paint, and watercolor. Though I have glooped it, glopped it, smeared it, buffed it, mixed it with paint, sanded it, dissolved it , dryed it, sculpted it, restructured it, and used it for faux finishing, I don't think I will ever exhaust its possibilities.

I used it along with other ingredients and techniques to create the Tuscany Water Stone Walls for my dear friends in Ludlow Falls several years ago. And I have used it on all my paintings since about the 1990's.

Looking back it seems my journey beginning in May this year up to the present was a sort of recapping, or relearning painting. I feel like I filled in some gaps to my painting education. I had to see if after filling those gaps I would still be drawn to the white rock. And what do you think the answer is? BANG BANG BANG!

Haha! the only thing I don't like about the white rock paintings is the BANG BANG BANG part, the building of the supporting canvas structure. Electrical saws, drills, and metal things don't make me cozy. I have to take a lot of breaks and drink tea in between the banging. And take lots of cat naps with Doo and Mr. B.

As you can see in the photos I am finally getting to mess with the texture paint and soon you will get to see some actual painting here.